


Only You Can Lead Voltron

by ThePinkTeenager



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Forced to grow up, Gen, Half-Galra Keith (Voltron), Impulsive Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Leader Keith (Voltron), Puberty, Storyteller Matt, The Lions as Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29924997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePinkTeenager/pseuds/ThePinkTeenager
Summary: Keith never wanted to lead. When Shiro returns after a long absence, Keith tries to hand his role over to the older man. The Black Lion, however, has other ideas.An AU where the Black Lion rejects Shiro, forcing Keith to be the Black Paladin throughout season 4.
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Keith & Black Lion (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	1. I’m Not a Leader

**Author's Note:**

> I should probably mention that the MCD tag is more of an MCD reveal, and even that’s kind of confusing. If people want to read it, I will make a series with this as the first work.

This was not supposed to happen. 

Keith had left a few hours earlier to investigate a supply route. While he was gone, Voltron had received a distress call. They’d fought a Galra fleet, but were unable to defeat them with only four lions. Shiro had tried to pilot with Black, but failed. Now everyone was yelling at Keith for shirking his duty. 

“We nearly got killed out there!” yelled Lance. 

“Guys, I’m sorry!” shouted Keith. “I thought Shiro could pilot Black. He was a better leader than I ever could be, anyway.” 

Shiro’s expression softened. “Keith,” he said, “that’s not true. Black wouldn’t have picked you if you couldn’t lead well.” 

Keith looked at Shiro. “My first week as leader, I nearly got everyone killed on a planet while chasing Lotor. You never did anything that reckless.” 

“Okay, so you have a lot to learn.” said Shiro. “But Black won’t accept anyone else as Paladin.” 

“I’ll have to talk to Black.” said Keith. 

“You’re talking to us first.” said Shiro. “Why were you off with the Blades in the first place?” 

“I told you,” said Keith, “the Blades were checking out a supply route. We just found a hidden network of quintessence shipping routes.” 

“I understand that,” said Shiro, “but the Blades can send someone else to look at those. We don’t have another Black Paladin.” 

“Do we really need to be here?” asked Hunk. 

“No.” said Shiro. “I’ll talk to Keith. The rest of you can go.” 

“Bye!” The other four Paladins left the room. Shiro gestured for Keith to sit down. 

“Keith,” he said, “I know you may not like it, but the fact is that Voltron needs you. You can still work with the Blades, but you can’t abandon us like that.” 

“But I’m not supposed to be the leader.” said Keith. “You are.” 

“Neither of us gets to decide that.” said Shiro. 

Keith realized this was getting nowhere. “I’m sorry.” he said. “I’ll help next time.” 

Before Shiro could protest, Keith turned around and left. 

* * *

As much as he wanted to sulk right now, Keith had a more important task. He went to the hangar bay. The Black Lion was there, huge but not threatening. Keith stood right in front of it- no, him. “Hey Black,” he said impatiently, “open up.” 

The Black Lion opened his mouth, allowing Keith to enter. Keith sat down in the now-familiar cockpit. He wasn’t sure where to start. 

“The other four lost a fight today.” he said. “Galra fleet nearly tore them apart.” 

_That’s kind of your fault._ Black’s “voice” echoed in Keith’s mind. 

Keith rolled his eyes. “In case you didn’t notice, Shiro tried to pilot you. Why didn’t you just let him? You two used to fly together all the time.” 

_That wasn’t Shiro_ , said Black. 

“Are you kidding me?” Keith exclaimed. “Of course it was Shiro!” 

_No it wasn’t_ , said Black. _Shiro’s dead._

* * *

Keith stared blankly at Black’s dashboard. No, that wasn’t right. Shiro _couldn’t_ be dead; Keith had just seen him ten minutes ago.

“No.” said Keith. “Shiro’s not dead.”

_I’m sorry, Keith_ , said Black, _but he is dead. I saw him die during the battle against Zarkon. I tried to save what I could of his consciousness, but his body was destroyed._

“Then who’s... the other guy?” asked Keith.

_I don’t know._

“So what, am I supposed to lead Voltron now?” he said. “Because in case you haven’t noticed, I really fucked that up.” 

_It wasn’t that bad_ , said Black, _nobody died._

“Okay, you’re right.” said Keith, “That doesn’t change the fact that I’m not a leader. Sure, I’m smart, and I can fight, but I’m way too impulsive to lead Voltron. I don’t care what Shiro said- me leading the team will only lead to disaster. Why did you even pick me, anyway?” 

_You’re strong_ , said Black, _and determined, and you don’t shy away when things get tough. You know what to do in a crisis. When you speak, your teammates listen. Besides, I don’t mind the impulsiveness. Reminds me of my brother._

“Your brother?” Keith was confused by the statement. 

_Red_ , he answered. _You used to pilot him._

“You’re... brothers?” asked Keith. He’d never considered the Lions’ relationships with each other. 

_Yes_ , answered Black. _I am the brother of all the Lions, actually._

“Does that mean they’re your brothers?” asked Keith. That was usually how siblings worked.

_Actually, Green is my sister._

No wonder Pidge kept calling Green “she”. 

“So what, I’m just gonna be your Paladin indefinitely?” asked Keith. 

_Yes._

* * *

“Kolivan,” said Keith, “we have a small problem.” 

Kolivan’s alien face appeared on the screen. “What is it?” he asked. 

“I’m stuck being the Black Paladin. Shiro tried to pilot Black when I was away, but he refused. Said Shiro’s dead and I’m his Paladin for good.” 

“Hold on,” said Kolivan, “who said Shiro’s dead?”

“The Black Lion.” answered Keith. “We can communicate through... well, I’m not sure, actually, but we can communicate.” 

Kolivan nodded like that wasn’t weird. “I see.” he said. “Do you have any further knowledge?” 

“Black said Shiro died during the battle with Zarkon, but he tried to save his consciousness. Whatever that means.” Keith tried not to show any emotion, even though the words pierced his soul. 

“If Shiro died,” asked Kolivan, “then who’s in his body?” 

“Good question.” said Keith. “I wish I could tell you.” 

“Well, seeing as you are occupied with Voltron, we will send somebody else to investigate the supply network.” said Kolivan. “If we find anything important, we’ll let you know.” 

“Thank you.” said Keith. 

“You’re welcome.” 

Keith ended the call. Then he went to his room and thought about his situation. For months, he’d been spending more and more time training with the Blades. His intention was to quit Voltron entirely, but that wasn’t happening. He didn’t mind being in Voltron when he was the Red Paladin. Being the Black Paladin was harder. When Shiro returned, Keith felt incompetent. Shiro was supposed to be the one leading the team, not Keith. Since there wasn’t a place for him anymore, he joined the Blades. 

Living as a Blade of Marmora was fine. The other Blades weren’t his friends, but they respected him and were willing to teach him what he needed to know. It gave him the opportunity to learn about his Galra traits, many of which he’d previously assumed to be quirks. Improved night vision? Galra thing. Delayed puberty? Galra thing- he was actually fast-growing by their standards. Single-minded persistence? Galra thing. Impulsiveness? Okay, that was a Keith thing. None of the other Blades were this impulsive. 

As much as Keith wanted to work with the Blades, he couldn’t. Voltron needed him more than the Blades did. Whether he liked it or not, he was their leader. That meant he had to lead. 


	2. Attacking What Now?

Keith was seriously questioning the Black Lion's choice of Paladin. When he brought it up with Black, the lion had said that he was strong, determined, and could stay relatively calm in a crisis. All of that was true, but it wasn't the whole story. 

First, there was the matter of Keith's age. Chronologically, he was eighteen, but Galras matured more slowly than humans. Keith was growing faster than the average Galra, but was immature compared to other humans his age. Biologically, he was roughly equal to an eighth grader. Mentally, he was even younger than that. Black might as well be asking a preteen to lead Voltron. 

Keith's slow development had been obvious when he was fifteen, barely five feet tall, and had the voice of a little kid. Shiro took him to an endocrinologist, who told them that Keith showed no signs of puberty whatsoever. After a long discussion, the doctor told them he could treat it with a medicine that could either be squirted up his nose or injected. Keith chose the latter. After six months of daily injections, puberty had come and was there to stay. That might've been part of the problem. 

Pidge went looking for her brother, which meant that there were only four Lions available. Luckily, Allura and the Blades were keeping an eye on the Empire and Prince Lotor. Their fights were mostly against individuals or small fleets that could be handled with one or two Lions. That meant Keith had plenty of time to think about what he was supposed to do. 

He had to figure out what the deal with Shiro was. Shiro seemed exactly the same, but Black kept insisting that he was dead. That may have been a more credible claim if he actually knew who was in Shiro's body, but he didn't. Besides, Keith had spent months grieving Shiro after Kerberos and weeks grieving him after the battle with Zarkon. He felt as if any more grieving would tear him into a thousand pieces. So for now, Shiro stayed, even if he couldn't pilot any of the Lions. 

Zarkon was still incapacitated, meaning Prince Lotor was in charge. Keith had no idea what Lotor's intentions were. He decided to do nothing unless Lotor attacked them or one of their allies. If Zarkon was revived and took the throne... Keith tried not to think about that.

* * *

"Good news!" Keith could hear the excitement in Pidge's voice. "I found Matt!" 

That _was_ good news. Partly because Pidge finally found her long-lost, presumed-dead brother, and partly because Keith could use Matt's help right now. 

Green docked in the hangar bay and let her passengers out. Both Holt siblings were thrilled to see everyone. Matt already knew Shiro and Keith; Pidge introduced him to everyone else. Keith thought he saw a tiny blush when Matt was introduced to Allura. He would not be the first boy to do that. 

Matt told everyone his story over dinner. After the Galra captured the three men on Kerberos, Shiro and Matt were sent to an arena. When it was Matt's turn to fight, Shiro took his place. Then Matt was thrown in prison and rescued by a rebel organization. 

“I saw that footage.” said Pidge. “We couldn’t figure out if you’d been taken by rebel fighters from the edge of the galaxy or fashion pirates.” 

“I actually did meet fashion pirates at one point.” said Matt. “That was an interesting day.” 

Matt continued his story. After working with the rebels for a while, he faked his own death and put some sort of secret code on his grave. Pidge knew the code, so she decoded it and found Matt in a hidden base. That meant everyone thought he was dead, but whatever. 

“Hey Matt,” said Pidge, “want me to show you around?” 

Matt’s face lit up. “You bet!” he said. 

The two Holts ran out of the room. Keith finished his meal and went to bed. He was going to need sleep if he was to lead Voltron. 

* * *

“Keith,” said Pidge, “we have bad news.” 

“What is it?” asked Keith. 

“One, Zarkon’s alive. Two, Matt and I updated the Galra finder and found a hundred Galra ships attacking nothing.” 

Keith frowned. “Attacking nothing?” he echoed. “Absolutely nothing?” 

Pidge shrugged. “That’s what it looks like.” 

Logically, Keith knew they must be attacking something. He just didn’t know what it was. 

“Pidge,” he said, “Use your cloaking to get to the fleet and find what they’re attacking.” 

“Alone?” she asked. 

Keith nodded. “You’re the only one who can cloak. Besides, they won’t attack what they can’t see. The rest of us will stay here and keep watch.” 

Both Shiro and Coran told Keith to reconsider his choice, but Keith ignored them. As far as he was concerned, this was the best option. They needed to know what the Galra were fighting.

* * *

Pidge and Matt went to the fleet while the other Paladins waited in their Lions. Lance wanted to just attack the fleet, and honestly so did Keith, but Shiro was right. They couldn’t just rush into battle without even knowing what the Galra were fighting. 

“I hope they don’t find Pidge.” said Hunk. 

“Me too.” said Keith. “If something happens to Green’s cloaking, we’ll have a problem.” 

_Pidge is fine_ , said Black. _I’m watching her through my sister._

“How come you get a family and I don’t?” asked Keith angrily. This really wasn’t fair. 

_I don’t know._

Pidge’s voice came through the intercom. “It’s Lotor.” she said. “All those ships are attacking him.” 

“Why didn’t he show up on our radars?” asked Hunk. 

“That’s what I said!” exclaimed Matt. 

“It doesn’t matter.” said Keith. “Pidge, take out as many Galra ships as you can. Don’t uncloak.” 

“Got it.” said the girl. 

“Keith,” said Allura, “are you sure that’s a good idea?” 

“Every ship she takes out is one less ship the Galra can use against us.” answered Keith. 

“Guys,” Pidge’s voice was frantic, “Something messed up my cloaking. I‘ve been exposed!” 

This was bad. “Open the hangar bay!” Keith shouted. “Hunk, Allura, Lance, follow me.”

Keith found Green fighting off four ships. The other Lions tried to help, but they were also being attacked. Eventually, Keith told everyone to form Voltron. Thankfully, that worked. 

When the battle was over, Keith flew back to the Castle. Shiro was _not_ going to be happy about this. 


End file.
